Identifying Drivers of News Preference
Company: Meta
Role: Senior UXR
Timeline: June-September 2022
Type of Work: Foundational and generative
Methods: Stakeholder interviews, cognitive testing, surveys
Tools: Qualtrics
Facebook News
Facebook News was a dedicated tab launched to surface reliable journalism across national, local, and topical categories. Built to support informed civic engagement, the tab aimed to deliver a curated, high-quality news experience within the Facebook app.
It prioritized publisher integrity, diverse perspectives, and user trust by surfacing timely stories through a blend of editorial curation and algorithmic recommendations.
The Problem
More than half of U.S. adults report getting news from social media, but trust in these sources is low. Users are flooded with headlines, memes, and misinformation, often without knowing where the content comes from or why it’s shown to them.
In this crowded and noisy landscape, Facebook News had to compete with platforms like Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Apple News. To stand out, the team needed to understand what drives news consumption, what builds trust, and how Facebook could offer a credible and engaging experience.
The Challenge
How Might We: Understand what motivates people to intentionally seek out news and what would make Facebook News a trusted, go-to destination in a crowded and competitive landscape?
The Objective
Design and conduct foundational research to identify what drives news preference across platforms and uncover Facebook’s unique value in a crowded news ecosystem. The goal was to surface actionable insights that could inform product strategy, editorial investments, and long-term positioning of Facebook News globally.
The Process
I partnered with the research firm Hypothesis Group to lead a large-scale foundational study on what drives news preference and trust across social platforms. I began with stakeholder interviews and a landscape review to align on knowledge gaps, business goals, and platform-specific hypotheses.
With Hypothesis, I designed and fielded a 6-market global survey (N = 15,043) across the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, France, Vietnam, and India. The survey was cognitively tested in the U.S., then localized by expert translators. Respondents were weekly Facebook users who consume news and met key demographic criteria.
The study included 31 curated news attributes derived from literature reviews and stakeholder sessions. I used a combination of preference, trust, satisfaction, and usage measures to uncover the emotional and functional drivers behind how people engage with news across platforms.
My Role
As the lead UX researcher, I drove the end-to-end research strategy—framing the problem space, developing the methodology, and translating insights into product recommendations. I collaborated closely with our group product manager, design lead, data science lead, and engineering lead to ensure the research aligned with roadmap priorities and could directly inform decision-making.
I also led the partnership with Hypothesis Group, helping guide survey design, localization, and data interpretation to ensure the findings were both rigorous and actionable across global markets.
The Team
This was a deeply collaborative effort across internal and external partners:
Product, Design, Data Science, and Engineering at Facebook shaped research priorities and translated insights into product direction.
Hypothesis Group led survey execution, including participant recruitment, language localization, and data collection across six global markets.
XFN partners (policy, comms, and curation) were engaged throughout to ensure insights were actionable across orgs.
Research Questions
We set out to explore 3 key research questions that guided this work:
1) What are the core drivers behind users’ preferences for one news source over the other?
2) How does Facebook News stack up against other news platforms, specifically across dimensions like trust, value, and relevance?
3) What opportunities exist for Facebook News to differentiate itself in a crowded and competitive global news ecosystem?
Methodology
Conducted a 6-market survey (N=15,043) in the US, Mexico, Brazil, France, Vietnam, and India in Spring 2021. The research process itself was conducted across 3 key phases:
Stakeholder Interviews & Landscape Analysis
Conducted a review of prior research, analytics, and stakeholder interviews to align on business goals and identify potential drivers of news preference. These sessions helped refine the research questions and informed the development of survey attributes.
Survey Development & Cognitive Testing
Developed a 25-minute mobile-optimized survey via Qualtrics, cognitively tested it with U.S. users, and worked with expert translators to localize it for six global markets. The survey included both sentiment-based metrics (e.g., trust, value, satisfaction) and 31 curated news attributes covering content, tone, format, control, and relevance.
Survey Deployment & Analysis
Fielded the survey across the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, France, Vietnam, and India (N = 15,043). Respondents were screened for weekly Facebook use, regular news consumption, and diverse demographic backgrounds. I analyzed the data using factor analysis to identify underlying dimensions of preference and segmentation opportunities across markets.
Artifacts
The 31 attributes loaded into 8 distinct factors that were utilized to assess which drivers had the greatest impact on preference as well as other key user sentiments like trust and value.
In addition to understanding the drivers of preference, I also assessed 5 other dependent variables that capture user sentiment in relation to news.
The final list of the 31 attributes I identified after conducting stakeholder interviews and a landscape analysis that powered the factor analysis.
This research shaped Facebook News’ H2 2021 product roadmap and informed broader strategy across the News organization. It helped prioritize engineering and design investments aimed at improving the quality, tone, and trustworthiness of news on the platform.
The findings directly influenced new efforts around editorial curation, personalization controls, and UX changes to reduce news fatigue—positioning Facebook to compete more effectively in the global news landscape.
The Outcomes
Key Insights
Trust is earned through clarity and balanced
Respondents are more likely to trust news sources that feel neutral, are easy to understand, and avoid sensationalism or fatigue. Tone and emotional impact strongly influenced perceptions of credibility.
Fast, relevant, and in-control wins
Respondents want news that’s timely, tailored to their interests, and easy to navigate. Features that allow users to control or personalize their experience are strong drivers of satisfaction and engagement.
Facebook’s strength is reach and connection but credibility lags
Facebook News stands out for being free, convenient, and socially connected. It helps users understand what others are thinking, from friends to public figures. However, it underperforms on perceived editorial depth, originality, and authority compared to competitors like Apple News or YouTube.
Format and delivery style matter
Respondents are more likely to recommend news platforms that cater to their preferred format (e.g., video, audio, short-form, etc.) and that are easy to consume.
Opportunity to deliver high-quality, personalized news that doesn’t leave users feeling overwhelmed
Respondents want important and nuanced stories but not at the cost of feeling exhausted. Facebook News has the opportunity to focus on surfacing credible, relevant news but in a tone that feels light, digestible, and bias-free, allowing users to stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
Impact
This research shaped the H2 2021 product strategy for Facebook News and helped position the org around a clear, long-term vision: to become the preferred way people stay informed and up to date with current events.
Influenced org-wide prioritization by helping secure Engineering headcount for the News Ecosystem & Ranking team, therefore enabling deeper investment in surfacing credible, high-quality stories.
Guided feature design and prioritization by identifying which news attributes mattered most to users (e.g., clarity, tone, and control) and supporting design efforts to make news feel more uplifting and less fatiguing.
Aligned strategy with sentiment metrics by connecting preference and trust drivers to actionable product levers, ensuring roadmap decisions reflected what users value most.
H2 strategy memo incorporating the findings and citing vision to connect people with relevant, high-quality content that leaves them feeling informed and uplifted.
Examples of the designs and features that were prioritized to make the news feel lighter, less fatiguing, and more uplifting.
Reflections
This was my first time leading a large-scale, global survey—and the complexity of it taught me a lot. I had to manage a multi-phased, mixed-methods study, collaborate with an external vendor, and navigate alignment across multiple stakeholders to keep the work focused and actionable.
It was also one of the first times I saw how survey data could directly shape product prioritization at a massive scale. That experience sharpened my instincts around scope, stakeholder alignment, and what it really takes to influence roadmaps at large-scale global companies.